Venus defeats sister Serena, wins 5th Wimbledon

Venus appreciated the performance of Serena, who also did not loose any chance to win.

The defending champion recovered from a whirlwind start to land her seventh Grand Slam title courtesy of a 7-5, 6-4 win.

"I can't believe it is five because when I was in the final against Serena Williams, five seemed so far," said the champion.

Venus admitted she never found it easy to take on Serena, who comfortably won their previous Wimbledon finals, in 2002 and 2003.

"My first job is a big sister and I take that very seriously. It is hard for my family, although I like to think they want me to win," Venus said.

Serena, who had won five of her previous six Grand Slam finals against her sister, admitted things had not gone as she expected.

"She was a little better today, but it didn't work out as planned. But I'm so happy that at least one of us could win. We were glad to be in the final," she said. The opening point of the match was encouraging when Serena took advantage of a short second serve with a searing forehand down the line.

The defending champion managed to hold her serve but the momentum remained with Serena, who was denied a 4-1 lead when a forehand from her sister caught the top of the net and dropped almost dead on the second break point of fifth game.

Venus was clinging on and her perseverance paid off when Serena's level finally dipped sufficiently for her to level things with a break for 4-4.

The first game of the second set saw Venus fired down a serve at 129 mph -- a Wimbledon record.

Yet it appeared Serena might have regained the initiative when she converted her seventh break point in a 14-minute third game of the second set. But Venus hit back immediately to level.

The games then went with serve until, with Serena serving at 4-5, Venus ran down a drop shot and sent a backhand down the line to claim two match points.

Serena produced an ace to save the first one but a long rally on the second ended with her pushing a backhand inches wide to hand her sister the title.